Michael Pritchett

High school teacher Bill Lewis is writing a book on Capt. Merriwether Lewis and his Voyage of Discovery in 1804. Told in alternating sections contrasting the early 19th and early 21st centuries, we follow Capt Lewis through his search for the Northwest Passage to his years recommending Indian policy as Governor of the Louisiana territory to his suicide just three years after the voyage's end. At the same time we learn of Bill, his struggle with depression, his troubled marriage, his perhaps more troubled adolescent son and a high school student who has a child and leaves school.

There was something about this book that was just so emotionally affecting and I'm afraid I don't quite know how to put that into words. While there was some repetition between the sections and people in Bill's life did occasionally seem to ask about his writing a bit more frequently than I might expect anyone in [i]my[/i] life to do, I didn't really find that detracting from the story. All in all, I found this to be a truly excellent read and it did most certainly make me interested in reading more about the journey of Lewis and Clark, as the author hopes in his end notes.

I give this one ****1/2 only because I really hesitate to give any book 5 out of 5.… (mais)

The Melancholy Fate of Capt. Lewis by Michael Pritchett was a fascinating, engrossing book. I looked forward to reading this book so much as this summer my husband and I took a trip following a northwest route, some of it following the same route taken during Lewis and Clark’s famous journey. I stood at Cape Disappointment where Lewis and Clark stood, trying to imagine their reaction to what they saw. Almost impossible to imagine as the whole developed country lay behind me and a vast wilderness lay behind Lewis and Clark at they looked out at the Pacific.

While the language used, that of the nineteenth century, was difficult to read and somewhat slow going, it fit the story and made it feel quite real. The story is told in two voices, that of Capt. Meriwether Lewis and of Bill Lewis, a high school history teacher who is trying to write the history of Capt. Lewis. As the book progresses, you find that Capt. Lewis and Bill Lewis share many traits, one being an overwhelming depression, to the point of wondering how each got up every morning to do the work assigned to them. Bill Lewis is hampered by many factors, his marriage is in trouble, his son won’t eat and he has an irresistible impulse to associate with women who will only further damage his marriage. He despairs of ever finding whether Capt. Lewis actually committed suicide or was murdered.

Overall this was an engrossing, excellent book. The overwhelming amount of research to write this book was obvious and a job well done. I look forward to reading other books by Mr. Pritchett.… (mais)